View synonyms for

beg the question

To assume what has still to be proved: “To say that we should help the region's democratic movement begs the question of whether it really is democratic.”

Discover More

Idioms and Phrases

Take for granted or assume the truth of the very thing being questioned. For example, Shopping now for a dress to wear to the ceremony is really begging the question—she hasn't been invited yet . This phrase, whose roots are in Aristotle's writings on logic, came into English in the late 1500s. In the 1990s, however, people sometimes used the phrase as a synonym of “ask the question” (as in The article begs the question: “�� are we afraid of?” ).

Discover More

Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

It begs the question why would anyone, let alone a successful international entrepreneur, want to buy this faded relic?

From

It begs the question: is public health even a thing in this country anymore?

From

He has been such a success at Arsenal, it begs the question as to why it did not work out in Madrid.

From

It begs the question: If AI chatbots are programmed to become more and more like humans, can they handle the emotional burdens we share?

From

It begs the question why employees are being subject to polygraph exams,which are notoriously unreliable and inadmissible in court, if DHS has already identified the culprits.

From

Related Words

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

begrudgingly beg to differ

Browse